Window-cleaning device



3 Sheets-Sheet R. FELGNER WINDOW CLEANING DEVICE Filed May`2l, 1925 May4 1926.

INVENTOR RJ/'lgner BY ATTQRNEY May 4 1926. 1,583,346

. R. FELGNER WINDOW CLEANING DEVICE Filed May 2l, 1925 s sheetsQsneet 2s VU, ln. d

INVENTOR Rlyzer ATORNEY May 4 1926.

R. FELGNER wmnow CLEANING DEVICE 3 sheets-sneek Filed May 2l. 1925INVENTOR Ellgner v ATTORNEY in dotted lines.

, ing carriage, a substantially oval plate 15 Patented May 4, 1926.

. UNITED STATES PATENT,OFFICE.

RICHARD FELGNER, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. i

Application inea May 21, 1925. semi 4no. 31,833. p

To all whom z'z may concern: i

Be it known that I, RICHARD FELGNER, a citizen of Germany, residing atBrooklyn, in the county of Kings and State yof New York, have inventedcertain new and useful inprovements in lVindow-Cleaning Devices, ofwhich the following is aspecification.

The main object of this inventionis Vto provide a device by which theouter surfaces of window panes may be cleaned from aV position withinthe room.

to carry on the cleaning operations exterior of the room. In doing this,the cleaner lays himself open to injury thru a fall. It is to preventthis danger that the herein described devi ce has been designed, havingfor its main purpose the operation of a cleaning pad which may haveready access to any pane of the exterior surface lof a window pane andbe4 operated safely from a position within the room.

The above and other objects will become apparent in ,the descriptionbelow, in which characters of reference refer to like-named parts in thedrawing.

Referring briefly to the drawing, Figure 1 is a side elevational view`of a window cleaning device, showing the same inposition for operation.v v

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the device, showing the entire mechanismfor cleaning a window pane and moving the device to any position on thewindow frame.

Figure 3 is an end elevational view of Figure l.

Figure l is a schematic view, showing the means for simultaneouslylifting the cleaning pad and the bracing carriage. i

Figure 5 is a top plan view of the frame adjusting mechanism.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral shows the rim or windowframe This window frame serves as a framing member for a glass windowpane 11 in all types of windows. 1t is the purpose of this invention toprovide a mechanism for cleaning the exterior surface 12 of the windowpane. This device consists of a channelled plater 13 which serves asthesupporting carriage for the entire device and is kprovided with parallel`retaining walls lt. Beneath one end of the, support- In cleaning the`outer surfaces of window panes, 1t iswusualv for a person to seathimself upon the sill` is'mounted. This plate 15 vextends transverselyVbeneath the supporting carriage and is retained 4upon a pair of rollers16 which are journalled inthe'plate and are adapted to support koneendofthe device. BeneathV thesupporting carriage and near the oppositeend ofthe same, is an additional plate member 17 of similaroutline andsize as the plate V and is rigidly secured at a position beneath theVlevel of the plate 15 by being mounted on the lower face of a flangedhub 18. This plate also serves as ameans for journalling` the f axlestudsy Of-rollers 19. Each of theplates 15 and 17 areV provided withstuds at the lowerends on which inverted cup-shaped lwashers 2O 'aresecured and these cup-shaped washers are adapted to be urged down-wardlyby the pressure of co'il springs 21. In order tourge said. washers intocontact with the surfaces of the window sill to prevent thedevicefrommoving across the window sill when the same is being operated, a secondchannelled plate 22 isvslidablv mounted within the supporting carriage13V and is also provided with parallel sidewalls on which. variousmembers which it is desired to move vwith this chan.-

nelledplate, are secured. A pair of arms.V

23 have their ends secured to a bracket 43a on the movabie carriageat` aposition intermediate the length of the latter. The opposite ends ofthese arms 23 are connected by a handle bar 24, said handle bar beingmanipulated when it is desired to shift the supporting carriage tovarious positions 'along the length of a window sill.4 At one end of thesupporting carriage between the plate 15 'and the handle 24, a flange25,-rigid with. the Vplate 15, extends outwardlyv from the end ofthesupporting carriage and is provide-dv with a lug 26 in which athreaded hole is provided.' Into this threaded hole,

the shank of a screw 27 is inserted.y `A bearing 28a is rigld on oneend* of the'support-` ingcarriage 13 and is provided with a clear holein which one end of the screw is loosely rotatable. y This end of thescrew y27 which passes thru member-28 has a wii'ig.

nut 28 .secured thereon and vwhich is :used

for manipulation. The screw by beingA ro-l tatablytixed in member 28aandin threaded engagement with the lug 26 movesY the llatter and suchmovement slidesv the `plate 15 longitudinally beneath theV supportingcar'- riage to the position desired. Said plate 1,5 has pairs of guidestuds 15a arranged on both sides of the supporting carriage eX- teriorof the retaining walls 14. A pair of levers 29 are pivotally mounted attheir lower ends on the. arms 23, and at their up per ends, are formedinto hook members` 30, lsai'd hooks being adapted to engage the cornersof the window frames to retain the latter in lowered position seated ona p1atform 29a. Near the opposite sideof the supporting carriage 13y apair of levers 14st are pivoted on the side walls 14 of said carriageand their upper lends are connected by a stud 14". Said levers are usedto supportr the outer or upper window frame when the latter is` lowered.for cleaning purposes.

The movable carriage 22 is slidably mounted in the fixed carriage 13,has corners or ends of its retaining walls formed into ears 31 to whichthe lower ends of channelled guide frames 32,133, 34, and 35, aresecured. The channelled frames, whenthe device is in. use, are 'innormally upright position. The channelled frames are pivotallyconnected. to the ears 31 and2 work in pairs, frames 32 and 33rcooperating and the remaining frames 34 and 35 cooperating together inasimilar manner. These cooperating frames are spaced-apart from eachother and have their flanges or side walls facing toward each other inorder to permit the slidable mounting of vertically moving carriageframes 36 and 37 therein. The vertically moving carriage frame 36. isslidably mounted. between theY vertical guide frames. 32 andv 33r and.supports a pair of shafts 33 andi 39.. rllhese shafts have their endsfixed within the sides of the vertically mov-ing frame 36: one abovevthe other and onl the upper: shaft 38, a. toothed wheel 40 is rotatablymounted. The lower shaft 39 has a similar toothed wheel 41 rotatablymounted thereon to which a. gear wheel 42 is permanently secured. Ontheupper shaft 38 adjacent the hubl of the toothed wheel 4.0, a sleeve 43vis loosely mounted on said shaft andis provided with an. eyelet lug 44.One end ofl a, chain 45 is secured. to this eyelet lug 44 and is:trainedl to course upwardly around a toothedl wheel 46 which isrotatably mounted in a bifurcated yoke 47, the

latter being mounted on a boss 481 rigid" at the top of the verticalframes 32 and 33. This chain courses halfway around. and over thetoothed. wheel 43. and then passes downwardly to engage the periphery atthe inner side of the toothed wheel4 401 from there being deflectedoutwardly toward the opposite side of the periphery. of the wheel41fwhich it engages: and' rotates and, then passes vertically downwardaround the toothedr wheel 47V which. is mounted on a Shaft 43, fromvwhencey it passes horizontally across the movable carriage. and istrai-ned a qua-rter turn about.V a toothed. wheel 48a and then isconnected to the eyelet lug 49 mounted upon a sleeve loosely mounted ona shaft 50, which is secured in the vertically moving carriage frameV37. Between each of the cooperating eyelets which are mu-l tuallymounted on the carriages 36 and 37,

springs 94 are coupled to the eyelets and are adapted to take up theslack of the chains 45 and 52 by their tension. The shaft 50 constitutesthe lower member of a pair` of shafts 50 and 51 which are carried in thevertically moving carriage frame 37, and these shafts are provided withytoothed wheels in a similar manner as just described for the oppositecarriage 36, and have a separate chain 52 connected thereto in the sameidentical manner, as just described and illustrated schematically inFigure 4, the purpose for mounting these chains to cooperate with thetoothed wheels in the manner set forth, being to permit the simultaneouslift.- ing or lowering of the carriages 36 and 37. It will be Seen thatthese vertical frames are both provided with the members 48b from eachof which a toothed wheel- 46 is suspended from a bifurcated yoke 47. Twochains 45 and 52 are used'. One chain has one of its ends connected tothel eyelet mounted on the carriage 37 and passes upwardly around thetoothed wheel 47 mounted between the frames 34 and 35 and then coursesdownwardly around the various pulleys to be finally connected to theeyelet 49a which is loosely mounted on the lower shaft 39. Thevertically moving carriage 3.6 has a member 53 thereony which. is hollowand open at the top and serves as a containerl in which any cleaningfluid may be filled. This, container is rigidly supported upon thecarriage 36, and within its confines. has a sleeve 54 which passes thruthe container and houses a. spindle 55. The spindle 55 passes entirelythru` the chamber of the container in the sleeve 54 and at its one endhas a bevelled gear 56 attached thereto. The

`latter meshes with. a pinion bevelled gear 57 which is rigidly mountedon a shaft 5S, the latter being rotatably secured in 'the walls of thecontainer. rlhis shaft also has a spur gear 59 secured thereto adjacentthe pinion 57 and meshes with the gear 42 mounted upon the shaft 39.rlhe opposite end of the spindle has a relatively large disk 60 mountedthereon whose lower face is covered with a felt ory similarly softcleaning pad 6l adapted to normally lie in contact with the surface 12of the window pane. The disk 60 is provided with a plurality of lugswhich journal a shaft 62 on which a plurality of rollers 63 of rubber orsimilar other material are mounted. The spindle 53 rotatably mountedwithin the container projects from both sides of the container'walls 64and upon its ends, hubs G5 are vmounted fromA which eccentric pinsproject. These eccentric pins engage the ends ofreciprocat` ing arms 66and 67. The oppositeends ofthe reciprocating arms 66 and 67 are adaptedto slidably enter into hollow bosses 68 which have openings 69 formed intheir sides. Thru these openings 69, fluid enters from the container 53and is urged upon thev periphcries of the rollers 63 by thereciprocating and plunger-like action 'ot' the arms 66 and 67.

Means for closing or opening tion oi the fluid contained in thecontainer thru these openings 69 is provided by the pivoted levers 70and 71 whose upper ends are pivotally connected toa slide bar 72 fromwhich a thumb stud 7 3 projects. The lower ends ot the levers: areprovided with smaller lugs 74 which are adapted to swing with the levers70 and 71 and are adapted further to seal the openings 69 in the bosses68 when the bar 72 is manipulated or moved in the proper direction sothat said lugs 74 enter into the openings 69, in'this manner closingcirculation of the fluid Vfromv the confines of the container vinto theAhollow portion of the bosses in front 'of the ends ot' the arms 66 and67. 1

To distribute the pressure evenly on both sides ot the window pane 11',a mechanism is provided on the carriage 37 directly opposite thecarriage 36 whereby the tendency of the pressure against one side of theglass pane is equalized by an additional pressure on the opposite sideof the pane. This frame' 37 has arms 7 5 extending from opposite sidestoward the center of the device, and'in the ends of these arms, the endsot a spindle 76 are rotatably mounted, this spindle rhaving atspaced-apart positions, a plurality of rollers 78 mounted thereon whichare adapted to contact with the interior surface 79 ot the window pane.A pair ot platesl 80 are mounted upon the vertically moving carriage 37'between which ahandle bar 81 is mounted which is adapted to be graspedand manipulated by the hand of the operator.

The vertical guide frames 82, 33, 34, and 35, are pivoted at their lowerends upon the ears 81 and are adapted to be adjusted radi- Y ally to fitin the thickness of the window pane. Adjustment ot these guide frames ishad by providing each ot the Cooperating Jframe members with a stud 82.One of these studs is mounted between each of. the pairs o'l' thevertical guide frames, that is, one stud is mounted between theguide'framesj32 and and another stud is mounted between the guide frames34 and 35. Intermediatethe length et these studs, an anchoring block 8Sis mounted so that the same maybe rotated upon theU stud. These blocksin cooperating with tongued members 84, are mounted on the ends of rods85 and 86 and i'orm a universal joint. The rods 85 and 86 pass angularlytoward the center of the c the circulamoving carriage 22 and have theirends connected pivotally to a bar 87 which is pivotally mountedcentrally on a screw 88 and is adapted lto transmit an angular movementof one pair of the vertical guide trames to the other pair so that whenone pair of guide frames is 'moved outwardly, the opposite pair aremoved similarly and a corresponding distance in the opposite directionfrom the actuated bar.v f

The'device is used for cleaning the exterior surfaces o'l window panessuch as that in-l dicated -by the numeral 12 and may be shifted tovarious positions alongthe window sill. The'ixed supporting carriage 13S0 vis mobile and may be shifted to any position on the sill by simplygrasping the handle 24. Vhen the device is being set into place on awindow sill, the handle 81 is pulled toward the operator so that thedevice may be tilted in order to projectA that part' of the slidecarriage Vwhich supports the vertical guide channels 32 and 33 lto aposition exterior ot the window sill. By pulling on' the handle 81, thevertical guide channels, which are pivoted onthe studs 48, are rotatedfrom each other and when the entire device has been lirmly set in thede'- sired place on the sill, this handle 81 is again pushed towardthe'window pane which in turn rotates the. vertical bars of guide rails32, 33, 34, and 35, toward each other luntil the cleaning. pad=61 liesviush upon the exterior surface 12 of the window pane 11'.

By again grasping this handle 81 and moving the same upwardlyanddownwardly, the disk 60 on which the cleaning pad 61 is' mounted, isrotated. The carriage 37 when being lowered, simultaneously lowers thecarriage 36 on which the cleaning apparatus is mounted, thru the noveltraining ot' the` chain about the pulleys, as illustrated in Figure 4.vLowering.both carriages simultaneously is accomplished by suspendingthe carriage 36 from one lof the chains, which latter extends upwardlyand is trained about the upper toothed wheel 46 and then passesdownwardly around various toothed wheels training about thertoothedwheel 47 and passing` over the'carriage 37 to be trained about thetoothed wheel 48 from which lit extends upwardly and is connected to theeyelet- 49, which is loosely mounted Aon the shaft 39 'forming part ofthe carriage v36. Y The opposite chain is connected to an eyelet 44mounted on the shaft 38, forming part ot this-same carriage 36, andcourses downlv wardly and around to the oppositecarriage mits theopposite carriage to be lifted, which is accomplished by the remaining`chain, that is, while the chain 52 is lifting theV carriage 37, theopposite end of said chain 52 is paid out and permits lifting. of theopposite carriage 36, which lifting. is accomplished by the chain 89,the latter being trained around an upper toothed wheel 46 between thevertical guide channels 32 and This arrangement of the chains permitsthe carriages37 and 36 to be simultaneously lowered and lifted so thatas the cleaning pad 6l is being pressed against the exterior surface ofthe window pane l1, the interior surface of said pane is pressed by therollers 78 forming part of the structure of the carriage 37. Thevertical guide channels 32 and 33 form4 one pair of members betweenwhich the carriage 36 is slidable, is adapted to be synchronously movedtoward the window pane or away from the window pane with the guidechannels 34 and 35 which carry the carriage 37. This is accomplished byproviding the mechanism shown in Figure 5 so that when the stud 32,connected to the members 34 andi 35, is pulled, one end of member 37isrotated and causes its opposite endv to move in the reverse directionso that the stud 82- mounted between the opposite members 32 and 33 arealso rotated outwardly. A pair of springs 92 and 93 span the distancebetween members 83 and the ends of the element 87 opposite to connectingelements 85 and 36 as illustrated in Figure 2, the purpose being tocentralize member 87 so that the vertical guides-32, 33, 34, and 35,normally stand in vertical position. The shaft 39 which supportsthe/toothed wheel 41, in addition, has a gear 42 thereon which is rigidwith the toothed wheelv 4l and rotates therewith so that as the toothedwheel is being rotated during sliding' movement of the carriage 36, thegear wheel 42 is correspondingly rotated and transmits rotation to thegear wheel 59 which rotates the spindle 53. This spindle having a piniongear 57 mounted thereon which is in mesh with the bevelled gear 5G,rotates the latter and causes rotation of the disk 69 and cleaning pad.6l thru the medium of the shaft 55. The container 53 is normally filledwith a cleaning fluid which flows thru openi-ngs 69 into the bosses G8in front of the plunger arms 66 and G7, which in turn duringreciprocation, urges the contained liquid from holes upon the peripheryof the rollers 63 and which lie in Contact with the surface of thewindow pane to be cleaned.

lf claim l Ll, A device of the-classv described comprising a mobilecarriage and. rollers supporting: said carriage, one set of rollersbeing mounted adjustably beneath one end of the mobile carriage, asecond carriage slidable longitudinally in the lirst-named carriage,vertical guide channels pivoted at their lower ends on the secondcarriage, vertically moving carriages. guided between the verticalchannel members and a pair of chains connected toI said verticallymoving arriages and adapted to simultaneously lift andy lower saidcarriages when one of the latter is moved, and a cleaning disk rotatablymounted on one of said|` vertically moving carizugesA and means forrotating said disk when one of said, vertical carriages is moved.

2. A device of the class described comprising a mobile carriage, asecond carriage slidable horizontally. in the mobile carriage, pivotedguide channels extending vertically from the slidable carriage,vertically moving carriages mounted between` said guide. channels,chains connecting said vertically moving carriages, said chains passingover pulleys and having an arrangement so that 'when one vertical movingcarriage is lifted or lowered, the opposite vertical carriage performssimilar movement and a cleaning disk mounted on one of said verticalcarriages, and means for rotating said cleaning disk simultaneously withthe movement of said vertically moving carriages.

3. A device of the class described comprising a mobile carriage, asecond carriage slidable horizontally in the mobile carriage, pivotedlguide channels extending vertically from the slidable carriage,vertically moving carriages mounted between said guide channels, chainsconnecting said vertically moving carriages, said chains passing overpulleys and having an arrangement so that when one verticalmovingcarriage is lifted or lowered, the opposite vertical carriage performssimilar movement and a cleaning disk mounted on one of said verticalcarriages, said vertical carriages having shafts and toothed wheelsrotatable on said shafts, agear wheel fixed to one of the toothed wheelson one vertical carriage, a spindle supporting said cleaning disk, atrain of gears connecting the gear adjacent the toothed wheel with thespindle and adapted to rotate the cleaning disk, said chains being inengagement with said toothed wheel causingr rotation of the cleaningdisk.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature.

RICHARD FELGNER.

